1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to an electrical stimulation device and, more particularly, to an electrical stimulation device that can be used on the upper limbs of human and provides a feedback control function.
2. Description of the Related Art
People may lose the ability to control their limbs entirely or partially, which is caused by a stroke, certain diseases or trauma. In order to prevent the atrophy of affected limbs and recover the ability of controlling the limbs that are paralyzed or partially disabled, physical treatment and rehabilitation should be given to the patient after being diagnosed.
For example, the stroke usually causes the hemiparesis or hemiplegia on the patient with different degrees and may be partial-ataxia or may result in losing control on local neuromuscular system, which results in muscle weakness. So far, how much rehabilitation is given to the patient depends on the different degree of paralysis, for example, by asking a patient to hold a rehabilitation cup and then to move it from a position to another repeatedly for training the paralysis or affected limb. For the patient who is in serious paralysis, a stretching exercise or an electrical stimulation can be given to the patient to stimulate the neuromuscular system of the patient's affected limbs and to assist the patient to do some rehabilitation movements such as stretching, retracting, opening the palm and clenching.
However, the conventional electrical stimulation is always given by the patient or a third person (for example, the rehab therapist) to stimulate the neuromuscular system of the affected limbs of the paralysis side via a controller, in order to achieve some assigning motions. Although the above-mentioned conventional electrical stimulation can make the affected limbs do the assigning motions and process the rehabilitation, the patient cannot control their limbs volitionally. The conventional electrical stimulation only can achieve a limited result and cannot train the patient to control the affected limbs of the paralyzed body side self-consciously.
Therefore, the conventional electrical stimulation of rehabilitation still has some inconvenience and defection, which needs to be further improved. In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, all the related manufacturers are eager to find the solutions. However, they still don't have any appropriate designs, and there are no products having appropriate designs that solve the above-mentioned problems.